My daughter was recently referred to speak to the doctor at camhs to be assessed. The appointment letter was sent out which said it would be a ‘virtual’ appointment which I thought was very unusual as my daughter suffers with extreme anxiety and would find an online appointment very uncomfortable.
I called the camhs office to see if it could be changed an in person appointment so that she could be properly assessed and I was told that the doctor doesn’t do face to face appointments. I’m not convinced this technique would work given the circumstances of the children using this service. I then spent time explaining to my daughter that this would be a video call which she really didn’t want to do.
On the letter it gave the details saying it was a virtual appointment and gave the meeting id and passcode, NOWHERE on the letter did it say it was a video call using Microsoft teams so I presumed it was on zoom and spent 15 minutes under serious pressure with my daughter beside me trying to log on and getting error codes.
Eventually we gave up trying and did a call with the doctor. They asked to be put on loudspeaker with both myself and my daughter present. They went on to ask her about her self harming which I could tell my daughter was so uncomfortable discussing in front of me so I left the room.
Overall I found the experience really bad and can’t fathom how this can work when you are trying to make a connection and assess a child with extreme social anxiety.
"CAMHS virtual appointment"
About: Children and Young People Services / Child and Adolescent Mental Services Children and Young People Services Child and Adolescent Mental Services Portadown BT63 5QQ
Posted by lynxgq45 (as ),
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